Nashville-based YouTuber and wife Kelli Taylor took to Twitter Wednesday to share a beautiful story about her parents.
“My parents have been married for 34 years,” Taylor wrote. “My mom is in the final stages of young onset dementia (diagnosed 5 years ago at 53). My dad cares for her full-time. She doesn’t always remember his name but she knows she is safe with him.”
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“If that’s not true love, I don’t know what is,” she added.
The incredible testament to the power of self-sacrificing love clearly struck a chord with Taylor’s Twitter followers. As of Thursday, the post has received more than 1,200 retweets and 13,500 likes.
https://twitter.com/keenertaylor/status/989315807296589824?s=21
In a second tweet posted Thursday, she expressed her gratitude for the outpouring of “kind words and prayers.”
Wow I’m overwhelmed! Thank you for all the kind words & prayers. If you want to help out my dad, we set up a GoFundMe last year to help him financially. Even if you can’t give, just knowing you’re reading our story & care to see updates means a lot to us. https://t.co/qDUKd4xi3F
— Kelli Taylor (@keenertaylor) April 26, 2018
Taylor included a link to a GoFundMe page she set up last year to help her father, Stan, cover the costs of his wife’s care.
A description on the page notes that Taylors mom, Phyllis, was diagnosed with dementia in 2012. Since then, the mother-of-four’s “condition has progressed to a point that she cannot be left alone.”
“She is unable to perform simple tasks like pouring a bowl of cereal or dressing herself, has trouble communicating her thoughts and needs, and has forgotten names of family members,” the page details.
A video on the page shows Phyllis at speech therapy struggling to pronounce words like “sushi” and to remember her therapist’s name:
“Thankfully, God has provided Stan with a job that permits him to work from home and care for Phyllis with help from friends and family,” the page notes. “However, we are quickly moving to a place where more help is needed. This is the reason for our ‘Phyllis Fund.'”
The page includes a detailed description of the family’s medical expenses, which include in-home care for Phyllis. A small portion of the funds will be used for a “special anniversary trip” for Stand and Phyllis “while she is still able to enjoy that kind of thing.”
In researching our options, we discovered that even the most affordable care for Phyllis would quickly drain the family’s finances. In-home care costs about $20/hour, for a minimum of 12 hours per week (we would likely need more than that, eventually). We are also looking into adult daycare programs, which cost about $50-$75 a day, but we’re not sure how Phyllis would do in such a new, stimulating environment. We are going to try both and see what makes Phyllis most comfortable. We would like to avoid an assisted living situation for as long as possible, but the uncertain nature of this disease makes planning for the future difficult.
Our fundraising goal of $13,000 is based on an estimate of $1,000/month – that amount would provide Phyllis with roughly 14 hours of in-home care OR 3 days of adult daycare each week for a year. Stan would also like to take Phyllis on a special anniversary trip this December while she is still able to enjoy that kind of thing. Some of the funds from this campaign may go toward this special trip, but the majority of the money raised will be used for Phyllis’ daily care.
To read more about this incredible family, and to contribute, click HERE.